Get your free promo card by playing in the Grand Prix (while supplies last).

Kobe is a city rich with Magic history, having hosted the first Pro Tour to be won by a Japanese player (Masashiro Kuroda, 2004) and the largest Grand Prix in Japan to date (1350 players, 2001). This will be the fifth Grand Prix to be held in Kobe.

Kobe is the fifth-largest city in Japan, with a population of about 1.5 million. One of the first cities to open for trade with the West following the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1868, Kobe has long been known as a cosmopolitan port city. The city is the point of origin and namesake of Kobe beef as well as the home of one of Japan's most famous hot spring resorts, the Arima Onsen. Other well-known locations in the city include the Ikuta Shrine, the Kobe Port Tower, and its large Chinatown.

The Magic: The Gathering Grand Prix tournament series is a great reason to get out of the house, catch up with old friends, meet some new ones, and play Magic. Grand Prix tournaments are world-wide open events that allow all Magic players to participate and experience the thrill of a large-scale competition. In addition to $30,000 in cash prizes, Pro Tour invitations for the top 4 finishers, and exclusive foil promo cards for participants, Grand Prix feature a host of other activities, including public events and artist signings. For information about Grand Prix in general and to see where other events are being held, check out the Grand Prix tournament schedule.

Tournament Format and Schedule

Prizes

Place

Prize

Pro Points

1

$3,500

8

2

$2,300

6

3-4

$1,500

5

5-8

$1,000

4

9-12

$600

3

13-16

$500

3

17-32

$400

2

33-64

$200

1

Top 4 finishers also earn invitations and airfare to Pro Tour Avacyn Restored in Barcelona. All prizes in U.S. Dollars. Prizes subject to change.

Registration and Schedule (scheduled start times subject to change)

Friday, February 17: Registration 16:00-20:00

Saturday, February 18: Registration 08:00-09:00

Saturday, February 18: Tournament begins at 09:30

Sunday, February 19: Day Two begins at 09:00

The main tournament at Grand Prix Kobe is open to Magic players of all ages.

Players must have a signed publicity release form to be included in Wizards of the Coast's official online event coverage. Forms can be downloaded here (15k PDF) and will be available onsite. Minors must have a parent or guardian’s signature on this form. Publicity releases will be collected during registration.

Deck registration and deck swap will be performed for the Swiss Sealed Deck.

Tournament Structure

Grand Prix Kobe will be run over two days using modified Swiss-style rounds of 50 minutes each. The number of rounds on Day 1 will be determined based on the number of players registered, Players will be paired randomly against players with similar win-loss records, with match points accumulating throughout the event.

If 799 or fewer players register for the event, all players with an X-2-0 or better record OR the top 64 players—whichever number is greater—will advance to the second day of the event.

If 800 or more players register for the event, all players with an X-2-0 or better record OR the top 128 players—whichever number is greater—will advance to the second day of the event.

The top 8 players after the final Swiss round on Day 2 will advance to the Top 8 single-elimination playoff round.

The Top 8 players will be seated randomly at the draft table immediately prioer to drafting. The Top 8 bracket will be determined using this random seating.

Top 8 playoff matches will be best 2 of 3, and have no time limit. (Players are still expected to play at a normal pace and complete playoff matches in a reasonable amount of time.)

When necessary, standings as of the final Swiss round will be used to determine final order in the standings.

Judges

The head judge for Grand Prix Kobe will be James Mackay (Level 4, Australia).

All Magic: The Gathering Tournament Rules and the Magic: The Gathering Infraction Procedure Guide are in effect for this event unless specifically overruled by information in this Format Document. Rules documents can be found in the Magic Document Center.

In the event that a player who wins an invitation to a Pro Tour stop at a Grand Prix has already qualified for an invitation, the invitation does not pass down under any circumstances. Previous qualification may come from a Qualifier tournament, through performance at another tournament, or by being a top-ranked player (valid upon the date of the official rank announcement for the appropriate Pro Tour).

A player who has a bye in a round does not have to play a match in that round, but is treated as having won. A bye is normally given out to a player when there are an odd number of players in a round, but byes may also be rewarded to players for previous performance at a tournament or as a prize at a Trial tournament. Byes will be given to players in the Grand Prix based on the following criteria (Byes are not cumulative throughout the season or year. Byes do not pass down under any circumstances. Players that accumulate multiple byes to a particular Grand Prix tournament receive only the bye for the greatest number of rounds):

Public Events

All Public Events at Grand Prix Kobe will have a Planeswalker Points multiplier of 3.

Unless otherwise noted, all booster pack prizes will use packs from the Dark Ascension expansion. Booster drafts will be run using 1 Dark Ascension and 2 Innistrad booster packs. Participants in Swiss tournaments with an X-2 or better record at the end of the tournament will receive booster packs as prizes.

Pick-Up Tournaments Pick-up tournaments will be run throughout the weekend on-site. All pick-up tournaments are sanctioned events; Commander and Chaos Draft tournaments are casual events.

Kobe Conundrum: Mox or Foil? Tournament Registration: 11:00-11:30, ¥2000 Format: Swiss tournament with Top 8 playoff The winner will have his/her choice of an Unlimited edition Mox Sapphire or a foil set of Dark Ascension as the prize for the event. The finalist will receive the unchosen prize. 3th and 4th place will each receive 36 packs of Dark Ascension. Note: Depending on the number of players/rounds in the tournament, the Top 8 playoff may take place on Sunday.

"Standard Sealed" Challenge Registration: 16:00-16:30, ¥2500; 128 players Format: Sealed Deck using 1 booster pack each from Magic 2012, Scars of Mirrodin, Mirrodin Besieged, New Phyrexia, Innistrad, and Dark Ascension; 4-round Swiss tournament All players will receive a random foil promo card for playing; in addition all players with 12 points at the end of the tournament will each receive an additional foil promo card.

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 18 SCHEDULE

Foil Set Modern Tournament Registration: 13:00-13:30, ¥2500 Format: Swiss tournament with Top 8 playoff The winner of the tournament will receive a foil set of Dark Ascension.

Invasion Block 2HG Sealed Challenge Registration: 15:00-15:30, ¥5000/team Format: 4-round Swiss tournament All teams with a 4-x record at the end of the tournament will each receive 18 packs of Dark Ascension as prizes. All teams with a 3-x record will each receive 8 packs, and all teams with a 2-x record will each receive 2 packs.

Standard Challenge Registration: 16:00-16:30, ¥1500 Format: 4-round Swiss tournament All players with a 4-x record at the end of the tournament will each receive 10 packs of Dark Ascension as prizes. All players with a 3-x record will each receive 4 packs, and all players with a 2-x record will each receive 1 pack.

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 19 SCHEDULE

Draft Challenge Registration: 08:00-08:30, ¥3000 Format: 6-round Swiss with 2 drafts All players with a 6-x record at the end of the tournament will each receive 18 packs of Dark Ascension as prizes. All players with a 5-x record will each receive 9 packs, and all players with a 4-x record will each receive 3 packs. Players who drop before the second draft of the tournament will receive a coupon good for one free 8-man draft.

Open Modern Tournament Registration: 12:30-13:00, ¥2500 Format: Swiss tournament The winner will receive 36 packs each of Scars of Mirrodin, Mirrodin Beseiged, and New Phyrexia as prizes.

Standard Challenge Tournament Registration: 14:30-15:00, ¥1500 Format: 4-round Swiss tournament All players with a 4-x record at the end of the tournament will receive 10 packs of Dark Ascension as prizes. All players with a 3-x record will receive 4 packs, and all players with a 2-x record will receive 1 pack.

Event schedule is subject to change without notice.

Artist Information

Franz Vohwinkel Franz Vohwinkel studied graphic design in Darmstadt (Germany) and graduated in 1991. The same year he illustrated his first game "Drunter und Drüber", by Klaus Teuber. Since then he has illustrated and designed more than 200 board and card games. A long-time science fiction and fantasy fan, in 1996 he was offered the chance to illustrate cards for the Magic: The Gathering and Battletech TCGs, becoming the first German artist to work for these projects. Since then, the share of fantasy and science fiction illustrations in Franz's work has grown steadily. Over the years, he has also done illustrations for the Classic Battletech RPG, Dungeons & Dragons, L5R, A Game of Thrones, and many book covers. Some of his illustrations have also been represented in "Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art". He has won the German Science Fiction - Kurd Lasswitz Award twice. Over the years he has done illustrations for more than 80 Magic cards. Since 2006, he has lived in Seattle, USA.

Ryan Yee Coffee is practically a necessity for any busy artist and there is no exception even for illustrator Ryan Yee. By day Ryan is a video game concept artist for Schell Games in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and by night Ryan immerses himself in his fantasy illustration work for Magic: The Gathering. Ryan’s first Magic card illustrations appeared in M11's core set. It was not until Commander and Innistrad that his works started to garner a lot of accolades. Highlight illustrations include Endless Ranks of the Dead, Moonmist, Paraselene, and Command Tower. Players can expect to see Ryan’s name on a number of cards being released in 2012 and beyond. If asked over a cup of coffee, Ryan will often mention Magic illustration legends Justin Sweet, Todd Lockwood, Jon Foster, Donato Giancola, Raymond Swanland and Jason Chan as a few of his favorite card illustrators. One of the biggest rewards for Ryan is the opportunity to meet and engage with Magic players from all over the world. He is very excited to travel to Kobe, Japan for this year's Grand Prix.

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Travel Information

Map courtesy of Kobe International Exhibition Center

Kobe is located southwest of Osaka, and is reachable by train, bus, and water taxi from Kansai International Airport. The city itself has a highly developed public transportation network, making it easy to get around. The tournament venue is a short monorail ride from Sannomiya, the business and entertainment center of Kobe.